The members of Google's team for its multibillion-dollar wireless-spectrum bid worked themselves to exhaustion and sickness. That was all in an effort to force the contest's eventual winner to abide by "open access" rules Google convinced the FCC to adopt last summer for its 700-Mhz spectrum sale. The auction winner, Verizon, seems to have little concern for Google's mobile whimsy. It plans to launch and heavily market "crippled, walled garden phones with no VoIP, Verizon content, highly restricted [terms of service], [and] high priced SMS," according to Broadband Reports.

In recognition of the rules, Verizon will also make available much-more expensive devices that abide by Google's "open access" rules, but the company doesn't plan to market them. Upset, petition-filing Google lawyers say "Verizon's position would completely reverse the meaning of the rule." (Photo by mtcool1988)